In the manufacture of T-rails employed as part of the track structure in elevator systems, the rails are cut to the desired length by a rotary friction saw. This operation results in a burr upset being formed on the end of the rail along the side surfaces of the web and the top thereof which must be removed before subsequent finishing operations can be performed.
In the past the burrs were removed by a workman employing a hand operated grinding device. Because of the manual nature of the operation, it is both arduous and time-consuming and therefore, amounted to a significant factor in the overall cost of rail fabrication. Adding to the expense of this operation is the fact that, due to the time required for its performance, the operation can not be performed on the roll line thereby requiring the bundling of a number of rails for their transport to a remote location followed by unbundling to permit access to the burred ends by a workman. Following this, the deburred rails were again bundled for transport to a loading facility and subsequent shipment.
Apparatus is known which is effective to mechanically deburr workpieces in situ on a fabricating line. Such apparatus is shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,722,087, issued Nov. 1, 1955 to A. E. Hamilton and involves the manipulation of grinding wheels by a complex hydromechanical linkage mechanism with ancillary workpiece stepping and hold down means. In addition to being a more expensive piece of equipment in its mechanical assemblage, the apparatus is not totally operable on workpieces of T-shaped configuration on a rolling line.
It is to the improvement therefore of apparatus of the above-described type that the present invention is directed.